


You Explained the Infinite

by tomfoolery14



Series: Writer's Month 2020 [5]
Category: Shadowhunters (TV)
Genre: Boys In Love, In an abstract way, M/M, Magical Artifacts, Prophecy, Recreational Drug Use, Romantic Fluff, but we have the benefit of foresight with the rest of the series so..., sorta?, the show timeline is insane but let's say this takes place between 2x10 and 2x11, trust me it'll make sense when you read it
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2020-08-28
Updated: 2020-08-28
Packaged: 2021-03-06 19:20:41
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings
Chapters: 1
Words: 2,184
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/26164030
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/tomfoolery14/pseuds/tomfoolery14
Summary: "Distilled djinn blood allows one to experience a reality in which the fantasy closest to your heart has come to pass. The reality is relegated to the originator, though, experienced like a long and vivid dream.”Alec was quiet, looking at the blood cautiously. “What do you use it for?”“It’s allowed me the ability to provide closure and peace to the occasional grieving soul, living out the remainder of their days with their true love, or undoing their greatest regret in order to live the life they had truly wanted.” When Alec finally reached over and plucked the vial from his hand, Magnus smiled softly. “It can also be used for purely recreational purposes, though. If you know the right people.”“Like you?”“Like me.” Magnus moved to stand between Alec’s legs, letting Alec’s thighs bracket the outside of his own. “But only if it were something you wanted.”
Relationships: Magnus Bane/Alec Lightwood
Series: Writer's Month 2020 [5]
Series URL: https://archiveofourown.org/series/1868773
Comments: 6
Kudos: 82





	You Explained the Infinite

**Author's Note:**

> written for writer's month: day 28 - fantasy

“What’s that one?”

Magnus tried to hide a smile behind pursed lips, shaking his head wryly as he reached for the delicate glass vial Alec was pointing at. They had been playing this game for the last two hours, and while it was terribly endearing, it was always prolonging the already unpleasant task of spring cleaning in the apothecary. For every few items he unearthed and put in storage, Alec’s face lit up with wonder as he implored Magnus to tell him all about the foreign object.

Alec nodded in confirmation. “Yeah, that one.”

Inside was a cobalt blue liquid that was almost as thin as water, swilling against the sides with even slight movements of Magnus’ fingers. It had been in his possession for a few centuries, once belonging to Asmodeus himself, and he had only used it in a concoction twice in all his time studying as an apothecary.

“This was…harvested, shall we say, by Asmodeus centuries ago. Distilled djinn blood.” Twisting it between his fingers carefully, Magnus looked at Alec thoughtfully. “You’ve never heard of the properties of djinn blood, have you?”

With a look of surprise, Alec shrugged. “Am I supposed to know about it?”

“Not _supposed to_ , per se, but it has become rather infamous in the Shadow World. I would have thought you would have been told the stories, given all the grief it caused the Nephilim.” When Magnus closed his hand around the vial, the glass felt icy cold against his palm. “There is no greater potential for the impossible than a wish granted by your angel Raziel, but if used correctly, djinn blood can be…quite an acceptable substitute. It’s almost impossible to achieve, as it requires _pure_ djinn blood, which is exceptionally volatile to work with, not to mention all but impossible to procure; a near success has only ever occurred once in my lifetime. Our world seems to find itself on the brink somewhat regularly, but the power to harness a djinn’s ability to grant one’s greatest desire in the hands of a particularly sadistic seelie militia… It was not unlike the terror of Valentine’s attempt with the Mortal Instruments.”

Alec’s eyebrows were drawn in confusion and discontent. “What would Asmodeus want with it?”

A wry laugh rose in Magnus’ throat. “Vanity. Leverage. Inciting horror. But not to be used as an ingredient for chaos and destruction in the literal sense.” He slowly opened his hand towards Alec to offer him the vial. “This, however, could do no such thing. Distilled djinn blood allows one to experience a reality in which the fantasy closest to your heart has come to pass. The reality is relegated to the originator, though, experienced like a long and vivid dream.”

Alec was quiet, looking at the blood cautiously. “What do _you_ use it for?”

“It’s allowed me the ability to provide closure and peace to the occasional grieving soul, living out the remainder of their days with their true love, or undoing their greatest regret in order to live the life they had truly wanted.” When Alec finally reached over and plucked the vial from his hand, Magnus smiled softly. “It can also be used for purely recreational purposes, though. If you know the right people.”

“Like you?”

“Like me.” Magnus moved to stand between Alec’s legs, letting Alec’s thighs bracket the outside of his own. “But only if it were something you wanted.” He couldn’t help running his fingers through Alec’s soft hair, reveling in the way his boyfriend melted into the touch with earthshattering tenderness.

“I trust you,” Alec said without hesitation, letting his fingers drift down Magnus chest to his hips and anchor in his beltloops to pull him closer. “I want to. Tonight, please?” Alec was nothing if not sincere, even on his worst days, but the way he was so unabashedly enthusiastic as he looked back at Magnus made a painfully full feeling swell in Magnus’ chest with how fiercely he loved him.

As if he could even imagine denying him. “Of course we can.”

That night, they got into the large marble bathtub filled with hot water that smelled of eucalyptus and jasmine, and backlit by nothing but soft, golden candlelight, and Alec settled back into Magnus’ chest. “Why are we doing it here?”

With the pad of his forefinger, Magnus aimlessly traced the protruding bone of Alec’s wrist tenderly. “Djinn blood runs quite cold, and it often generates that effect in the user. A hot bath seemed like the perfect antidote, hmm? Besides, the effects only last for about ten minutes, so you don’t even have to worry about getting all pruney.”

Even though he rolled his eyes in exasperation, Alec craned his head just enough to brush his lips against Magnus’ cheek. “So, how is this going to work?”

Magnus summoned the vial of blood to his hand and carefully broke the seal. He slowly extracted a fragile glass dropper from inside it and held it up to Alec. “I’ll put three drops of his on your tongue, and it will only take a few seconds for it to take effect. It will be just like falling asleep for you, with wonderful dreams. When the properties have worn off, you’ll wake up just as you’re used to, and I’ll be right here.”

Just as the dropper moved towards his lips, Alec stopped him with a hand on his wrist. “Wait. Is there a way for you to see what I see?”

Caught off guard by the question, Magnus cocked his head slightly. “Yes, there is a simple spell I can perform. But are you certain? You don’t have to share this with me if you don’t want to. Of course I’m curious, but this is for _you_.”

“Well if it’s for me, I want it to be for us.” Alec wrinkles his nose and shakes his head. “Wait, that’s not—You know what I meant.”

“Believe me, I am more than happy to be up in your head, pretty boy. Now, open up.”

Alec complies, sticking out his relaxed tongue. Magnus places three drops of the djinn’s blood on the center of it, watching the blue liquid immediately begin to dissolve. He starts to relax back into Magnus’ chest, but before he can even reach him, his eyes are glazed over and his body has gone boneless. Magnus carefully cradles him, pressing a kiss to his temple. “I’m right behind you,” he whispers almost inaudibly, before resting his palm against the other side of Alec’s head and murmuring an incantation. His vision whites out immediately, and he no longer feels the pleasant burn of the bath water or the comforting weight of Alec’s body against his.

Rather, he _is_ Alec—seeing through his eyes, feeling with his body.

“ _I hear relationships…they, um, they take effort.” “I’m all for effort.”_

And then he’s standing in the middle of his bedroom at the Institute, fingers pressed reverently to his lips that are still tingling from a particularly enthusiastic kiss. The tingle of portal magic still lingers on his skin like static electricity, and he distinctly feels a sense of longing for it to open again to take him back to the loft. To Magnus. He can hardly sleep that night, adrenaline still hot in his blood. He feels nauseous with excitement and fear and euphoria and anxiety, and perhaps even more he doesn’t know how to name but _feels_ down to his bones. He feels so much more than he ever has before, and it’s equal parts exhilarating and torturous because he has to go on with his life as if it doesn’t feel foreign and new to him, as if his entire universe hasn’t reoriented. But he’s pretty sure he really likes it.

The Institute dissolves around him and is replaced by a familiar balcony overlooking Tokyo lit up with lights that sparkled like a thousand little diamonds. One of his hands is gripping the cold metal of the railing to try to…survive the fact that he feels like he’s melting into a puddle of goo at Magnus’ feet as he kisses him and presses the fingers of his free hand into the warm skin of his exposed hip where his shirt has started to ruck up from the friction of their bodies moving against each other. He might not survive feelings this utterly amazing, but he doesn’t mind. How could he? When his fingers start to trail down slowly from Magnus’ hip, they brush against the outline of the omamori tucked safely away in his pocket, and for a second, it’s as if his blood has turned to electric currents in his veins. Magnus likes it—likes _him_ —and maybe he can dare to hope…

Suddenly he’s wrapped in golden silk and pressed against Magnus’ half naked body as he sleeps. His breaths are slow and deep, and Alec counts each one, feels the way his hand rises and falls with Magnus’ chest at each one. _One one thousand, two one thousand, three one thousand, four one thousand_ … He imagines those breaths as lifetimes, the infinite number of moments they spend together, feeling this tremendous love for one another that feels like coming apart and being put back together at the same time. It’s not the first time Alec had woken up to the realization that he is in love with Magnus, and the gravity of that truth has never been lost on him. He knows now that there will never be another—he loves Magnus, he will never love anyone else, and he is perfectly at peace in the knowledge of that fact. It takes up tangible space in his chest and feels like a galaxy behind his ribs, with constellations of moments imprinted on his soul for eternity.

Standing beneath a canopy of white roses braided together with strands of gold, Alec is holding both of Magnus’ hands with his own. There’s an unfamiliar weight on the ring finger of his left hand, and when he looks down at it, the gold band glimmers proudly in the light. They are surrounded by the smiling faces of those they love most, and yet it feels as if they’re untouchable and maybe even invincible. All those moments of doubt and shame suddenly feel like nothing more than a half-remembered dream as he looks into Magnus’ eyes. _“The love I have for you is a love that has no bounds.”_ When the ceremony is over and the reception is in full swing, they manage to sneak away from the party to seek privacy in a small storage room where they swallow each other’s laughter as they kiss with frantic excitement. Alec’s stomach is full of butterflies, and a lump rises in his throat when he thinks about the boy he once was—terrified of what the future would hold for him when he wanted things he shouldn’t, and didn’t want the things he should. Even at his worst, he could never hate himself more than Magnus loved him.

Their surroundings melt into a simple landscape of vast water under a moonlit night sky bright with stars. Both of them have discarded their clothes, bare skin against skin as they kiss. The shore is surrounded by beautiful bleached white cubiform houses, nearly all the lights extinguished for the night. A short distance away, their boat bobs with the languid movements of the briny water where it waits for them to return from their swim. Time has left new scars on Magnus’ skin that Alec maps with his fingers, and his body sports more runes than he’s ever had before. On his left hand, his wedding band has a few thinner bands on either side of it—some made of silver, others of gold; some adorned with small diamonds, some with small pearls, some with small emeralds, and some with small rubies. A handful of lifetimes reside on his finger, and he feels more on the horizon as he looks at the love of his life.

Suddenly, the world around Alec freezes and holds still for a beat, before beginning to roll backwards like a tape in rewind. It starts of slowly, but soon begins to pick up speed. Every second of his past rushes by him in a blur of colors and sounds that grow brighter and louder. And then as abruptly as it sped up, time slows almost back to normal speed, but remains rolling in reverse. He’s in the Institute, in the hallway back to his room. He goes back through it, turns the light back on, and returns to the bed where he lays down on his side to stare at the stained glass rendering of Raziel. The raindrops rolling down the window pane from the storm outside are trailing back up, undoing the path they made. He just stares at them for an indeterminate amount of time, before his eyelids close and he feels as if his consciousness is sinking deep within himself.

_“I hear relationships…they, um, they take effort.” “I’m all for effort.”_

**Author's Note:**

> come find me on [tumblr](http://mysterioklaus.tumblr.com)


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